Beach Day
by Raberba girl
Summary: Olette was simply getting ready for a trip to the beach; she had no idea that her life was about to change. Hayner/Olette one-shot.


With Olette  
>Kingdom Hearts fanfiction by Raberba girl<p>

_Three different stories, three very different boys: Hayner, Roxas, and Pence._

**Hayner's Turn - Beach Day**

Summary: Olette was simply getting ready for a trip to the beach; she had no idea that her life was about to change. Hayner/Olette one-shot.

333

Olette heard the commotion downstairs, but was too preoccupied to really register it. She continued going through her swimsuits, trying to find one that was not either too small, too worn out, or too out of fashion (or all three).

She was startled when the door burst open. "Wake up, Sunshine! Beach day!"

"Hayner!" Olette yelped, completely shocked. The swimsuit tumbled out of her grasp, and she automatically put one hand to her hair, which was still mussed from sleep. "What are you-?"

He grinned at her, eyes sparkling. He was so energetic and passionate that just being close to him seemed to make everyone around him feel more alive. "You ready yet?"

"Of _course_ I'm not ready," she said in exasperation. "It's eight in the morning, Hayner! I just woke up! I can't believe _you're_ not still in bed; it's Saturday, for goodness' sake."

"Man, you act like you're _not_ excited to go to the beach," he said, though he was surveying her pile of swimsuits with an approving smile.

"I am. I just didn't think you would be in such a rush." Blushing, she tried to cram all the rejected swimsuits back in their drawer. "Go bother someone else and come back later, Hayner. I haven't even had a chance to comb my hair or put on any makeup yet."

"You don't need makeup, beautiful."

She blinked and started to lean away as he reached for her face, but his expression caught her off guard. His smile had gone unusually soft, and his knuckles were gentle as he brushed them along her cheek. "You always look fabulous, Olette." A glint sprang into his expression. "I especially like this just-woke-up look you've got going on here. Very sexy."

"Hayner!" Blushing harder than ever, she pushed him away and turned her back, pretending to be very interested in cramming items into a beach bag.

"So, whatcha bringing?"

She stiffened as she felt him move up behind her, his arms reaching around so that he could pry open the bag and peer into it. "Sunblock, great; snorkel, right on; but what the heck is with that book? No way I'm gonna let you lounge around and read on a Beach Day! And you really think we're gonna need a pair of mismatched socks? Or a teddy bear? Or-?"

Caught in her frantic packing of any random item that had come to hand, whether appropriate or not for a day at the beach, Olette gasped out an embarrassed giggle and tried to wrench away. "If you just give me a few minutes, I can-"

"You can what?" The bag dropped to the floor. Hayner had not let go - if anything, his hold had tightened, and now the two of them stood very still as he clasped her in his arms. Olette's heart was pounding. The sensation of his flesh against her, separated in places by only the thin fabric of her tank top, felt warm and...pretty nice. His breath wafting against her shoulder was also warm, smelling pleasantly of toothpaste.

Finally, she managed to speak. "Hayner?"

With a sudden nervous laugh, he stepped back and turned away, crouching to scoop the spilled things back into the beach bag. "Uh, anyway, you better hurry and get ready. I wanna catch the train before it gets too crowded."

"Mm." Her breath was coming a little too fast, her thoughts disorganized. Not knowing what to say, Olette picked up her hairbrush and went to brush her hair by the window, looking out at the morning light. The sight of the quiet neighborhood street calmed her, and she found herself smiling as she listened to the faint chorus of birdsong through the glass.

"Hey, Olette?"

She glanced back at him. "Yeah?"

Hayner grinned a little sheepishly, not meeting her eyes as he sat on the floor, fiddling with the beach bag's straps. "What swimsuit are you gonna wear?"

Her cheeks warmed again. "You'll find out," she said, putting on a haughty tone.

"You gonna wear the blue one again?" he persisted.

Olette shook her head. "I've got three blue ones, Hayner."

"The one with...you know, those little frilly things. You look really- er, that one looks really nice. I think."

"Is that so?" Her heart was going fast again. She had thought that her loveable idiot friends had never paid attention to what she wore. Certainly they had given no sign of it until now.

"Um...yeah." Hayner fell silent again. She went to her mirror and began to work on crimping her hair.

"What are you fixing your hair for?" he laughed. "It's just gonna get wet and sandy."

"What if I don't want to get wet and sandy today?" she protested playfully, continuing her work even though she knew he was right. Lounging around getting a nice tan was never something she could do when Hayner was nearby. Despite any intentions to the contrary, Olette always ended up playing on the sand and swimming, and she had to admit that it was usually more fun that way. Still, she ought to at least make the effort.

In answer, Hayner snatched her bottle of hair gel and held it up out of reach, his eyes twinkling. She leaped up to try to grab it back, laughing. For a minute they tussled over the bottle, and Olette could not help noticing in the midst of everything how tall Hayner was, how the flesh on his bare arms rippled over nicely toned muscles. _'Oh, help...'_

Then he tossed the bottle over her head, where it landed with a soft thud on her pillow. Both of them dived for it at the same time, except that Hayner tripped on the beach bag that was still on the floor. He stumbled into her and knocked her sprawling on the bed before landing heavily on top of her a second later.

"Olette! Sorry, man." He lifted himself up on one elbow, allowing her to wriggle onto her back. For a moment they smiled into each other's faces, still in the playfully friendly mood; then it sank in that they were lying together on her bed, and the smiles faded. They stared at each other. Olette waited for him to get off.

He didn't. Instead, he reached a hand toward her face, looking a little dazed. Then suddenly he stopped and clenched his fingers, his expression going fierce. "Olette, I-" he started to say forcefully. He broke off, and the color began to rise in his cheeks. He tried again, and failed. "For a while I-" He swallowed.

"You what, Hayner?" she said quietly. For a long time they stared at each other, not saying anything. His blush faded, and as she watched his expression changing, coming to a decision, she unconsciously curled her hands into fists in expectation. When he suddenly leaned down to kiss her, she was ready.

For the first few seconds it was wonderful, the best thing that had ever happened to her. At first it was just the soft touch of his lips on hers, but then she invited him further and her thoughts began to mash together after that. Her eyes were closed, so that all she was aware of was the taste of him, and the touch of his fingers trailing down her shoulder. Her hands crept up to twine into his hair, and at the touch of the heavily gelled strands, the spell was suddenly broken; he burst into laughter mid-kiss. At the scent of his breath wafting over her face, she suddenly remembered with horror that she had not yet brushed her teeth this morning. He was probably disgusted.

"Oi, don't touch the 'do!" he was saying, catching her hand and absently kneading it between his fingers as he grinned down at her.

She smiled back, even though she felt more like crying. "What, so _you're_ allowed to gel up your hair on a Beach Day, and I'm not?" She could feel tears beginning to emerge, so she hurriedly pushed him away and got up, stalking over to the closet.

"Olette?"

She did not answer, merely shoved through the clothes in her closet, not seeing them. She gritted her teeth angrily when she realized she was shaking.

"Olette."

"Hm?" She yanked one outfit off the hanger, holding it up and staring at it for far too long before she realized it was a black party dress. Not exactly beach attire.

"...Hey." She tensed as she felt him approach. Then his hand brushed, a little questioningly, across the seat of her shorts before grasping her hip.

The color rose in her cheeks, and the hard knot in her throat seemed to dissipate. She let the dress drop to the floor and reached to move his hand up to a more decent spot on her waist, trying not to smile.

"You okay with...this?" she heard him asking uncertainly.

Olette drew in a deep breath, then turned and pulled his head down so that she could kiss his forehead, not remembering until it was too late that this gave him a close-up view of her tank top's neckline. "Get out of my room, jerk," she said affectionately, pushing him away. "I have to get cha- I have to get ready."

Hayner smiled at her, his whole face seeming to light up with it. Then he moved back into the hallway and saluted before shutting the door softly.

Olette no longer restrained her smile as she got dressed.

33333

It was strange, and wonderful, walking through the streets with him. They held hands. There were not many people around that early on a Saturday morning, and the air, still cool, seemed fresh and full of promise.

"Oi, Roxas!" Hayner barged into the house without knocking and galloped up the stairs, yelling the whole way. Olette shook her head and set the box of cinnamon rolls they had just bought on the kitchen table before going up to follow him. By the time she got there, Hayner was already in the bedroom and shaking the sleeping boy's shoulder. "Beach Day! Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!"

"Sora, watch out," Roxas mumbled, still obviously asleep. "They're behind you..."

Hayner rolled his eyes at Olette, who giggled. She went over and knelt down beside the bed, putting her hand gently on her friend's face and smoothing back the limp spikes of his hair. She could see beads of sweat on his forehead. "Roxas? It's just a dream. Time to wake up."

The brilliant blue eyes cracked open slowly. "N...Naminé?"

"Sorry, just me," Olette apologized. She felt a sudden pang in her heart, understanding for the first time a little bit of what Roxas must be feeling.

Roxas blinked, then squeezed his eyes shut again before sitting up and stretching discontentedly. "Olette? Hayner? What are you doing in my room?"

"Have you _forgotten_ what we were gonna do today?" Hayner said in exasperation. "Geez, it's like no one cares about the beach except me!"

"That sounds about right," Olette teased. Hayner swatted playfully at her, and missed. She smacked him lightly before reaching up to plant a little kiss on his cheek, feeling exhilarated at the thought of what had been newly opened up to her.

Luckily, Roxas did not seem to notice any of it; he was rubbing at his face, as if trying to erase his dreams. Olette felt bad for him - she knew that he had not been sleeping well ever since his girlfriend had moved away. The two of them were still trying to stay in touch, but of course it was still difficult for them. "Roxas?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled. Then he glanced up, smiling a little. "And starving."

"We'll eat on the train," Hayner said. "Hurry and grab your stuff, we still have to get Pence!"

The last member of the group did not give Hayner nearly as much of a hassle as Olette and Roxas had. Pence was, in fact, ready to go and actually stepping out of his front door when the other three walked up.

"Finally!" Hayner cheered. "You up for an awesome day at the beach, man?"

Pence good-naturedly gave him a thumbs-up. "How could I not be, with you bugging us about it all week?"

"You want a cinnamon roll?" Olette offered, holding out the box. "Roxas already dug in."

"Greedy pig couldn't wait," Hayner huffed, swiping a pastry out of the box for himself. Roxas offered a sugary grin and made a dismissive gesture.

"Thanks," Pence said, smiling at Olette as he took a cinnamon roll for himself.

The group of friends talked animatedly on the ride to the beach, with the exception of Roxas, who was dozing on Olette's shoulder. Olette was glad of Roxas's weight, since it both pushed her closer to Hayner sitting beside her and made their close proximity look normal. Pence sat on the seat opposite them, arguing good-naturedly with Hayner about the possibility of seeing any dolphins.

"They're going to be further out, we wouldn't be able to see them from the beach-"

"I'm telling you, man, we have to rent a boat or something!"

"Well, I've only got enough money for some pretzels...not sure I want to be blowing my food money on anything else, even a boat ride."

"Well, how much money do _you_ have, Olette?" Hayner asked, turning to her. His expression was purely businesslike at first, but at the sight of her, his face melted and he smiled, gently squeezing her fingers.

"Not enough for a boat ride," she said, trying to sound huffy but smiling too much to be convincing.

Hayner rolled his eyes, but leaned rather closer to her than necessary as he reached to shake Roxas's shoulder. "Oi, Roxas!"

"If I've got no heart-!" Roxas yelped. His eyes flew open and he sat up so quickly that Olette rocked hard into Hayner.

"Wow, what've _you_ been dreaming about?" Hayner laughed.

Roxas groaned and dug both sets of nails into his scalp. "Weird stuff...stupid stuff..." He shook his head and peered at the others. "Are we there yet?"

Pence shook his head as Hayner demanded, "Hey, Roxas, how much munny you got on you?"

"Uh...a lot, I think." Roxas dug through his pockets and produced a heap of munny orbs, cupped precariously in both hands.

"Whoa!" Pence cried in delighted admiration.

"I bet we can buy a watermelon with that much," Olette said happily, already imagining the sweet taste in her mouth.

"Awesome, dude," Hayner said, punching Roxas happily on the shoulder.

"Watch it! You made me drop some."

"Let's rent a boat, man!" Hayner exclaimed as he helped Roxas gather the fallen orbs.

"A boat? What?"

33333

The clouds cleared away just as they reached the beach, allowing sun rays to fall hot and unimpeded on waves, sand, and exposed skin alike.

"Whew, it's gonna be a scorcher," Pence remarked, hitching his bag up more comfortably on his shoulder. "I'm glad I remembered to bring Mom's beach umbrella."

"Just remember, no lounging," Hayner warned them. "Everyone's going to have _fun_ today!"

"How is lounging not fun?" Olette said indignantly as they dumped their things down on the sand.

Hayner shot her a wicked look that sent delicious shivers tingling up and down Olette's spine. "Oi - RACE YOU TO THE WATER!"

Olette took off before even pausing to think. Dimly, she was aware of Roxas rushing past them and Pence trotting behind; her eyes, however, were on Hayner. He had started out in a sprint. She was running as hard as she could, pushing her body, sucking in air and lunging forward, determined to get to the water first as her mind seemed to expand with pure thrill. She cried out in excited frustration as she saw the two boys pulling ahead of each other; then Hayner suddenly swerved around sharply.

Olette shrieked again as she realized that he was blocking her path, and she scrambled to pull herself up short; instead, she crashed straight into him. Before she even had a chance to recover her balance, he had scooped her up in his arms and was now running toward the water again, his stride heavy and lopsided with the weight of her. Olette barely noticed that Roxas, already among the waves, was crowing about his victory; the poor boy had no idea that it was not a race anymore.

Hayner splashed straight into the shallows with Olette, but as his legs hit deeper water, his momentum combined with Olette's unaccustomed weight caused him to stumble, and she fell out of his arms with a splash. Olette yelled from the cold, though luckily a wave was just coming in and absorbed most of the shock of her fall. "Hayner, you stupid bungler!"

"Who're you callin' a bungler?" His arms came back around her, and she instinctively wrapped her own arms around the solid warmth of his body - but then he was laughing and plunging her back into the cold water again, and she shrieked before thinking and instantly got salty liquid up her nose. She came up coughing and sputtering. Unable to say anything past the burning in her throat, she scooped up some water with her hands instead and flung it in his laughing face.

By the time Olette had managed to extract herself from the wrestling match, aching from laughter, she found that they had a small audience. Their two friends were both in the water nearby, Pence resting comfortably within a rubber inner tube and Roxas slung across a large plastic floating duck. Both boys were watching them thoughtfully.

"Interesting," Roxas commented.

"Olette never giggles _that_ much," Pence noted.

"And I've never seen Hayner put his hands on PG-13-rated parts of Olette before..."

"Guys, stop it!" Olette cried, feeling her face flame.

Hayner slung an arm around her and grinned at the other two. "What, you guys have a problem with my new girlfriend?"

"Nope," Pence said at once, holding up his hands in surrender. "She's all yours, Hayner."

"Oh," Olette murmured, feeling a giddy urge to tease despite her embarrassment. "You're giving me up so easily, Pence?"

Pence folded his hands on the edge of the inner tube and rested his chin on them, grinning. "Hey, at least it means you finally have another victim to pick on for Shopping Days."

Both Olette and Hayner gasped at that, though for different reasons.

"Shopping Days aren't _that_ bad!"

"Urgh, I forgot about that! She's going to be dragging me all over town now to try on _clothes_!"

"Oh, the horror," Olette snapped.

"Here, Hayner," Roxas said, raising up a dripping high-powered water gun that had previously been concealed behind the duck. "I'll put you out of your misery before it even begins. Prepare to die!"

"Cheater!" Hayner howled, letting go of Olette to make a sudden mad break for shore, where his own water gun was still buried somewhere among their heap of bags and towels.

Roxas pursued him with jets of water, laughing, leaving Olette to exchange a glance with Pence, shake her head, and slog after them.

As Hayner and Roxas chased each other across the beach, Olette spread her towel and set up the umbrella over it, then sat down to apply the sunblock she had not had a chance to put on before. The rhythmic motions consumed her attention as she spread it across her face and neck, down her arms, and across her torso. She was just starting on her right thigh when an appreciative whistle broke through her thoughts - the boys had apparently noticed what she was doing.

Now that she thought about it, the act of applying the lotion to her bare flesh seemed different now that her relationship with Hayner had changed and was out in the open. Before, it had been simply a precaution to protect her skin; now there was something...more public about it, and at the same time more intimate, which made heat come back to Olette's cheeks when she saw Hayner's appreciative smile and thumbs-up, Roxas's quiet smirk, and Pence's long, thoughtful look. She had been blushing far too often ever since this morning, ever since Hayner had stopped just being her friend.

"Go back to chasing each other like idiots!" Olette shouted at them, and they broke into laughter.

Hayner tossed his water gun over to Pence, who gasped and fumbled before dropping it at his feet. As Roxas whooped predatorily and advanced on his new opponent, Hayner came jogging over the sand to plop down on his knees beside Olette. "Want me to get your back?" he offered, eyes sparkling.

"Um..." She would like nothing better, but it sounded so cheesy.

"It would be the boyfriendey thing to do," he added persuasively.

She laughed, and it was all right then. She handed him the bottle and turned away, clasping her hands around her knees. For a minute neither of them said anything, and she was trying not to get too breathless with anticipation. Then as second after second passed and nothing happened, she frowned and glanced back over her shoulder.

At that instant he laughed mischievously and slapped a glop of cold lotion onto the small of her back; she shrieked and swatted her arm at him, though the angle was awkward. He laughed again and then unexpectedly kissed her, an affectionate smack of the lips landing messily somewhere between her neck and her jaw. At that she quieted in surprise, and then he dropped the teasing and started applying the sunblock in earnest.

He took his time, his hands moving slowly over the flesh of her back, and it felt so good that she thought she would be happy to just spend the whole trip like this, let Hayner take all afternoon to put sunblock on her. When his fingers slipped under the back strap of her top to spread a dab of lotion there, she shivered; he suddenly wrapped his arm around her to pull her close, and she closed her eyes as he kissed her neck just below her ear.

The next minute, however, he broke the mood by laughing and saying, "Blech, you taste like sunblock."

She shifted in his arms to look back at him and say huffily, invitingly, uncertainly, "There's no sunblock on my lips."

His smile reassured her, and his kiss was...well, it was a little sunblocky, but otherwise delicious. He pulled back just enough to murmur, "Nope, just lip gloss. What's this flavor?"

"Mm...apple."

"Good, my favorite." Then they went back to not speaking.

Not for long, however, because suddenly Olette felt a couple of light thumps on the ground near her feet. She had just frowned and started to look up when suddenly a cloud of squawking, shrieking wings descended on them.

"What the _heck_?" Hayner exclaimed, leaping up. Olette gasped, then burst into helpless laughter, because either Roxas or Pence (or both) had apparently thrown scraps of food at them, attracting the seagulls.

"Stupid birds!" Hayner yelled, charging at them. They scattered immediately, only to regroup over his head and come swooping back down around him, cawing urgently for more food.

"Hayner!" Olette called, still laughing as she swatted at the birds around her. Then one of them dropped something wetly disgusting on her towel, and she began screaming in earnest. "HAYNER! Get them away from me!"

Hayner dived around and grabbed her hand. "Run, Olette!" and they were taking off down the beach, followed by the flock of sea birds, laughing and shrieking and yelling threats at Roxas and Pence, who were practically doubled over with mirth.

Even after the birds had gone, they still ran, and it was so wonderful to run with him as he matched her stride and they kept their hands tightly clasped, dodging around other people and occasionally veering into the edge of the water, so that when Olette glanced back she could see their trail of uneven footprints stretching out behind them.

Then of course they had to walk all the way back. They took it slowly, without talking much, their hands still clasped. Hayner would try to point out cool things about the beach, like the way the sunlight kept changing the color of the waves, but then he would usually interrupt himself by kissing her. Olette stooped to pick up shells when she saw pretty ones, and she would show them to Hayner to admire and he would hold them against her hair like ornaments before carrying them for her in his swimsuit pockets.

By the time they reached their friends again, Pence had started on a sand castle and Roxas was bringing him interesting things to embellish it with, shells and driftwood and the occasional bit of debris. Olette grabbed another pail and began helping Pence make the sand mounds, while Hayner bragged about how they were going to make the Biggest Sand Castle Ever. He came up with plans and building strategies that usually did not work, and was generally useless. He and Roxas abandoned the project halfway through to go swim, so that Olette was left working with Pence - he had begun digging the moat, while she traced artistic whorls and spirals onto the towers.

"So...when?"

She glanced at him, her cheeks heating again. "When what?" It was lame to hide like that, but the subject was embarrassing. Though not, as she realized too late, as embarrassing as forcing Pence to say it plainly.

"When did you decide to be Hayner's girlfriend?"

"Um...this morning," she mumbled. She was definitely concentrating much harder than necessary on the sandy towers.

"...At your house? The two of you? Alone?" His voice was teasing, but she was afraid to look at his face and see something different.

"Pence," she whispered.

His hand suddenly came to cover hers, and she jumped in surprise. "I liked you for a long time, Olette," he said quietly, and she found it impossible to look at him. "I...I'm happy for you, though. I never really expected you to pick me, and I was too shy to ask." His hand tightened around hers, then abruptly released.

She could not help looking at him then, though she immediately glanced back away.

"No, I was too _scared_," he said determinedly. "I'm sorry, Olette - though I guess it's not like you're missing out on anything," he added ruefully. "I just want you to know that you and Hayner...it's okay with me. I'll support you guys."

"Pence," she said awkwardly, feeling sorry for him and yet not wanting to encourage him. "Don't think...don't think that you're not worth- I mean- there's a lot about you that a girl could like." She winced and looked away, then scooted back a little bit and forced herself to smile at him. "Just - you know, maybe tell her next time. The worst she could do is go out with someone else, right?"

The smile he gave her was so sweet, so forgiving, her heart melted a little and she thought that maybe, if things had gone differently...

Yet she was happy with how they had ended up, too. Her eyes moved to Hayner, who was wrestling with Roxas in the water and got knocked over by a wave. She was not aware on the huge smile on her face as she watched him, admiring the way he looked from this distance and breathlessly imagining all that was to come for them.

"Yeah," Pence was saying. "You're right, Olette. Heh, I'll have a pretty tough time trying to find another girl even as close to amazing as you are, but when I do, I won't let her go this time."

Olette smiled distractedly at him. "Good luck, Pence." She stood up and brushed sand off the back of her swimsuit. "Hey, let's go help Hayner!"

Pence's laugh startled her. "Heh! I said I'd support you guys' _relationship_ - I said nothing about ganging up with you against Roxas!"

Eventually, Olette managed to extricate herself from the ensuing game of water tag and shoo the boys away long enough for her to settle down with her book, which she won the right to pretend to read by threatening Hayner with kiss deprivation if he interrupted her. That earned her about ten minutes of getting to sit there, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin and the page of the book she was slowly working her way through. All the background noises - the cawing seagulls, the shouts and laughter of the other people on the beach, the constant shushing of the waves - merged into a single soothing symphony.

_'I love the beach,'_ she found herself thinking. _'Hayner always makes such a big deal about it, but it really can be wonderful...'_

It was about that point that a beach ball came crashing into her head out of nowhere, signaling that it was time to rejoin the boys' playful antics, at least until they got hungry enough for her to lure them back to the beach towels with snacks.

"Pretzels _and_ watermelon! Now this is what I'm talking about!" Pence said as they all plopped down eagerly.

Olette lightly smacked Hayner's reaching hand away. "Nope. _Roxas_ gets first dibs, since he contributed the most munny."

"But Beach Day was my idea in the first place!"

Roxas grinned as he selected the biggest, juiciest watermelon slice. "You know what they say, Hayner: Munny talks."

"Oh, come on! You're all just-" Hayner broke off as Roxas, laughing, cracked the watermelon slice in half and invitingly held out one of the dripping segments. "Hmph." It made Olette laugh also to watch him acting like a big sulky toddler.

Just like a toddler, Hayner had a short attention span - he soon apparently forgot to sulk and was laughing with his friends over some story Pence was telling.

"So you have to, like, grab on and keep riding the thing like a cowboy if you want to capture it. Otherwise, it bucks you off and you have to chase it again."

Hayner snorted. "That's so lame. I bet no one just tried hard enough."

"Hayner," Roxas pointed out, quirking an eyebrow, "you're talking like this is some real thing here, not just one of Pence's urban legends."

"It's not an urban legend, it's true!" Pence insisted. "I interviewed people at Sunset Terrace myself!"

"Why don't we just _go_ there some time?" Olette suggested. "We can see if all those mysteries are true, the ball-flinging wall and the changing steps and stuff."

"Yeah, let's do it!" Hayner, as always, was quick to pick up on any sort of adventure. "Tomorrow, we'll go to Sunset Terrace and prove Pence wrong!"

"Or prove me _right_," the other boy grumbled.

Roxas looked lost in thought. "The Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, huh..."

"You okay, Roxas?" Olette inquired.

"Yeah, it's just that I don't think they're really...well, never mind."

"Hm."

Things seemed to slow down a bit after that. Roxas and Pence went swimming again, though they seemed to do more lying on the floatation devices rather than actual stroking.

Hayner actually fell asleep - he had lain down with his head on Olette's thigh and closed his eyes when she started stroking his hair; eventually, she picked up on the light snores he was emanating, and realized he was out cold. It gave her a warm, protective feeling, touching him like that. He seemed like a little boy in some ways, so innocent and thoughtless; yet, the way she felt as she studied the muscles in his arms, the way his lean, strong body took up too much of the beach towel he was lying on...Olette shivered a little. It was a pleasant feeling.

33333

They lingered until nearly suppertime, and even then Olette had to practically force them to go, before they got too hungry. Hayner wanted to spend the night on the beach, but the others pointed out that they had brought no camping gear.

"Oh, come on! We can, you know, catch fish! And, like, cook them over a - yeah, a driftwood fire!"

"Uh huh."

"Right."

"Yeah, good luck with that, buddy..."

Hayner actually stamped his foot like a kid. "Aw, come on! You guys are no fun!" He suddenly broke off and smiled. Olette thought that he had given up surprisingly easily, until she realized that the expression on her own face was also a big smile. "Ah, whatever. I've got better things to do tonight, anyway." He raised his eyebrows suggestively at Olette, earning a duet of "Oooohhh!"s from the others.

Blushing, Olette flipped her hair and stalked off, pretending to be offended. "My parents will be home, you dummy," she said, feeling mostly relieved at the thought. Mostly.

They dropped everyone off in reverse order, saying good-bye to Pence at his door and then leaving Roxas at his own quiet house. Olette and Hayner continued on alone, their hands once again clasped together.

They walked in companionable silence for a while. Olette noticed, but said nothing, when they reached the street where Hayner was supposed to turn on to get home, and he merely continued walking hand-in-hand with his new girlfriend.

_'Girlfriend. I'm his girlfriend. Oh, wow...'_ She smiled up at him again, and he smiled back and squeezed her hand.

"I really love you, Olette."

Her heart pounded. The words had seemed to slip so easily off his tongue, practically glowing with warmth, though now he was blushing and looking away. "I mean, I...well, yeah, I l-lo- uh...I like- I really like, uh, spending time with you, Olette."

She meant to say, 'I love you, too.' What came out was, "Am I special to you?"

His steps slowed, and he looked at her again, letting his eyes linger. Softly, he raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. "Always, Olette. You are so amazing, just absolutely amazing."

She stood up on tiptoe in order to plant a kiss on his nose. "I like you too, Hayner."

"Heh. This was a fun Beach Day."

"I agree."

"Very fun."

"Yup."

"Not like any of the others."

She smiled. "Definitely not."

He smiled back. "We should do it again soon."

"Oh? I don't know, I doubt we can ever top _this_ Beach Day..."

He leaned down to kiss her. "Try me."

333

Author's Notes: I have always liked this quartet of friends from Kingdom Hearts II, and I wanted to experiment, **pairing up Olette with each of her best friends and seeing which boy suits her best. This is my Hayner offering.**

Although I can definitely see Hayner and Olette together, I think they would find it difficult to maintain a long-term relationship, but who knows. :)

**The romance stuff was actually a bit too unchaste and fanservicey for my taste** - however, I'm sure there are people who will like it, and the Roxas & Pence stories will be both AU and more in keeping with my usual style. (I seem to be at my best when writing about fairies. *sweatdrop*)


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